


How the Seal Squad Saved Santa

by jacquelee



Category: Original Work, The Night Before Christmas - Clement Clarke Moore
Genre: Gen, a Christmas story from an unusual perspective, only a small part of it relates to The Night Before Christmas but a pretty crucial one I would say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 12:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8801050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: It's the 27th of December and no presents have been delivered yet, for the first time in 600 years. Santa's Workshop has gone dark. This is the recount of events from the leader of the Seal Squad sent to investigate this historic event.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at [writing-prompt-s](http://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com) on tumblr. The prompt was: "It is December 27th. Two days ago Santa did not deliver gifts for the first time in 600 years. Santa’s Workshop has gone dark. You are the leader of the SEAL Team tasked with finding out why. This is your story."

Arriving at the meeting place, it was reassuring to see that all of the groups inhabiting the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea had followed our call.

Of course this was a first in any group's memory, a first in so many generations that literally no one had ever even heard of such a thing happening, so it was not surprising that every single group had sent someone to investigate and to help when possible. 

What was surprising was to see that there was even someone from the hood noses in the Northern Atlantic. An impressive sight with the enormous body, even for our standards large, and the big red hood on their nose, I had heard of them and what they were said to look like but never in my life had I actually seen one. 

But there was no time to dwell on this. To call the meeting to order, I let out a loud bark and propped my body up so that everyone was able to see me. The bark and squeal that had been a constant backdrop since everyone wondered what was happening, subsided at once. 

"Hello! I am Eyesie, I have been sent to represent the Lake group together with Short Snout," I gave a little nod to my cousin who was standing next to the representative of our distant relatives from the sea, "I welcome you all to Santa's Workshop, or, as the humans call it, Rovaniemi. I am sure all of you know why we are here. For the first time ever, Santa did not deliver presents, neither on the day they were supposed to be delivered, nor the day after, nor today. As we told you in our message, we have tried to contact the Workshop, but it has gone dark-"

I was interrupted by a bark from the hooded nosed one. He seemed to be confused, looking around us and at the bright lights clearly shining in the background. I nodded encouragingly in his direction. 

"Yes?"

"Excuse me, I might not know enough about these parts, but it seems like Santa's Workshop is in fine working order, especially it seems as if the lights are very much on."

The others started barking explanations, but I put my paw up as to not to overwhelm the poor newcomer, who seemed to already be quite agitated in his confusion, blowing his nose hood up to quite impressive proportions. 

"You are quite right… sorry, I do not know what you are called."

"I am called Sprinkles."

Looking at his fur, I could easily see why, as it was indeed sprinkled with a lot of black dots that resembled sprinkles, more in quantity and smaller than I knew was usual for this group. I gave him an encouraging look and started again.

"As I said, you are quite right, Sprinkles. But what you see here behind us is not the actual Workshop. It is the attraction Santa and the elves helped the humans open only a short time ago, when accidentally the secrecy of the Workshop was breached and the best course of action was to make a fake workshop right above the actual one, which is located deep underground.

"This way, any further breaches could be explained away as just attractions belonging to this fake Workshop the humans were so eager to build and maintain. The real Workshop has gone dark, we are sure of it, and I am very thankful to all of you that you have endeavored the long and difficult journey here to form a Seal Squad with me and the others to find out what is going on." 

"Of course! Wasn't so difficult either, just gotta know how to use magic the right way."

That had been the representative from one of the two groups that looked very similar to each other, both of average size and with similar snouts and very similar grey white fur with was dotted with black spots. The one who had spoken had a few more spots though, which seemed to be the only immediately apparent difference between the two. 

I acknowledged her with a nod. 

"I think, before we proceed, it would be good to know what all of us are called. As I said, I am called Eyesie, and you already know Short Snout," I again nodded to her, "and Sprinkles," another nod in Sprinkles' direction, "now, why don't you start?"

I indicated the one who had spoken of magic and she took the cue, telling us that she was called Balancer, for her tendency to balance on even the smallest rocks. The other white furred dark spotted one next to her was called Sparky, as she explained for her talent in magic, especially the magic producing sparks. 

I nodded and was thankful that the groups seemed to have send representatives who were proficient in magic, since that would definitely be something helpful in this endeavor. 

The next one in the group was the distant relative of Short Snout and me from the sea who, like us, had dark grey fur covered in differently sized white circles and was called Skewy from having a body that was skewed in one direction

The last one with the very distinct long face who had grey fur with an interesting pattern of white on it, not exactly dots or rings, but just some white distributed among the grey was called Patchy, for very distinct patches of white that surrounded both of her eyes and stood out clearly from the rest of her fur. 

With that, we now all knew each other. I repeated the seven names, including my own, so that everyone could get used to them and then we set out on our mission to determine what had happened to Santa's Workshop. 

We decided to split up into three groups to try and get into the compound from three different directions. Balancer and Skewy went to the back entrance, Patchy and Short Snout to an entrance that was rarely ever used on the side and Sparky, Sprinkles and I headed to the front entrance. 

As it was most likely to find out what had happened from the front entrance, we all saw it best to send me there, as the one who knew most about what was going on, as well as the one who was, as a quick test proved, best in performing magic and the one who knew least about the terrain and therefore needed the most guidance. 

Everything went smoothly and according to plan. We had a method of communicating that consisted of shooting sparks into the air that would even underground find the other groups. After we arrived at the entrance, Sparky shot green sparks up and after only a few moments we saw green sparks erupt quite a long distance in front of us and nearly simultaneously to our side. 

"Let's go!"

Together we stood on the completely unmarked patch of ice that I knew was the front entrance. Sprinkles looked at me questioningly and I explained how to open it. All of us set our front paws onto the ice on specific places and started tapping a specific rhythm. Ho, Ho, HO!

With the last tap, the ground under us gave way and we slid on a very big and comfortable slide that meandered in giant curves into the darkness underground. So far so good, the entrance still worked. The fact that it was indeed darkness, as our sources had said, worried me though. This part of the workshop was supposed to be illuminated with thousands of sparkling neon lights and now there was nothing. 

We slid deeper and deeper into the Workshop, all of us now with our guard up, ready to do defensive magic in a heartbeat. Sprinkles seemed quite nervous, but Sparky seemed to be ready for everything that could be thrown at her. I still held out hope that there was an explanation for all of this that didn't include us having to fight, as that was something I would much rather avoid.

After a while, the slide started to be more horizontal and one last curve revealed that we were there: Santa's Workshop, a giant cavern filled with music, lights, and the sounds of presents being build and packed. Or, at least, that was what it was supposed to be. 

The reality looked very different. Sure, it was still a large cavern, but there was neither music not lights, nor any sound whatsoever. There were a lot of presents in various states of being assembled and packed strewn over the machinery and the floor, but nobody who was handling them. 

In fact, we did not see any sign of life whatsoever when we carefully proceeded through the big cavern, trying not to worry too much at this bleak sight. 

Suddenly, we did hear some very quiet sounds from the other side of the cavern, like someone moving towards us. We stopped and stood still, Sparky with her paw already in the air to conjure up a defense shield in case something horrible had happened here. But then we heard the bark we had agreed on as identifier and returned it, hastening to reunite with Balancer and Skewy, who had found the back entrance in the same state as the front one, working but deserted. 

A few moments later, Patchy and Short Snout also joined us, only to shake their heads. There had been no signs of life at the side entrance either. What was going on here?

We decided to search the facility meticulously, hoping that someone or something was still here to explain what had happened. There was no signs of any kind of fight anywhere and in fact there were signs of the inhabitants of the workshop having left on their own regard, albeit hastily and without the presents that seemed to be basically finished, which made the whole thing even more suspicious. 

Proceeding to the communication room with Sparky and Sprinkles to see if there was any damage there that would explain the silence, I mostly tried my best to still stay optimistic in the face of the devastating emptiness of the workshop. 

At least we had not found anyone injured, or even dead, which was certainly a good sign. But still, even when I said as much to Sprinkles and Sparky, they only nodded slightly, trying to keep up the positive spirits but failing the more we went through empty rooms. 

Right outside the communication room I stopped shortly, listening. Not that I expected anyone to be inside, but still, it didn't hurt to be careful. To my surprise I actually heard something. Voices. 

Agitated, not knowing what this meant but still very happy and relieved that there were finally signs of life, I turned to the other members of my group. They clearly had also heard the voices. I nodded to Sparky and she produced a shower of blue sparks that would find the others and alert them that we had found something. 

Then we proceeded carefully into the communication room. The doors, of course, were easy to open for me and big enough for me to get through comfortably regardless of my size, as were all doors in the Workshop. I took one last look back at Sparky, who had her paw up and ready. 

Holding my paw in the air to strike at a moment's notice, I opened the door and entered the room with one jump. What I saw surprised me, but also made my heart sore higher than anything else today. 

There were three elves, sitting in the room, drinking something out of cups, apparently uninjured and chatting away, albeit looking tired and worried. One of them operated the communication array. 

Whoever they were talking to, it was clearly nobody I knew, nobody outside of the immediate circle of the Workshop, and clearly Santa was not here, but even so, we had found someone who might be able to explain what was going on and for the first time since we'd entered the Workshop I felt some hope. 

At our sudden entrance, all three elves started, one even threw down her cup and the other two stopped abruptly what they were doing and stared at us with wide eyes. Of course, we must have seemed a little frightening to them, seeing that we were far bigger than they were, and that we were clearly ready for a fight. 

I tried my best to amend that first impression, putting my paws down and squishing into a corner of the room to appear a little less imposing, Sparky doing the same, but I couldn't think of anything to say, so for a few moments, there was silence. 

Then, the elf on the communicator seemed to have regained her composure. Even though the first thing out of her mouth seemed completely nonsensical to me.

"What day is it?"

That seemed to put some life into the other two elves, who suddenly rummaged through their pockets to produce apparatuses that clearly were some kind of calendars. I wasn't sure if the question had been directed at me, but I answered either way. 

"It is two days after Santa was supposed to deliver the presents. Everyone is worried. We have not heard from you for days and days and that has never ever happened. That is why we were sent here to check what is going on."

I indicated the other members of the Seal Squad who were now assembling by the door, eager to see what we had found.

The elves seemed to be getting over their shock. Which for some reason meant that they were now frantically springing to action, the one at the communicator talking rapidly into the microphone, the one who had broken her cup trying to squeeze past me and Sparky to leave the room, going who knew where. 

That left the last elf, who was now looking at me. 

"We are so sorry. We did not know it was that late already. Everyone had been up for days and days and we thought there was still time. This is awful! Terrible!"

She seemed on the verge of tears and I tried to reassure her and the others.

"Well, as long as nobody is hurt, it's not that bad. Christmas will be late this year, but that doesn't particularly matter does it, as long as you can just-"

"But we can't! That's the problem! That is why we were sitting here for days, why everyone else is out there looking for reindeer! We can't deliver the presents and now Christmas is over and all the children will be disappointed forever."

Now more confused than ever, I looked at Sparky, who didn't seem to have understood anything either. Still trying to keep calm, I said the first thing that came to mind. 

"What do you mean, everyone is looking for reindeer? Don't you have reindeer? Did they disappear? What happened?"

But the elf just shook her head, clearly unable to explain. The elf on the communicator however, now turned towards me, apparently having finished sending her messages. 

"I called everyone back. Not that it will actually do any good without reindeer, but we will see. Maybe for now we can go into the great hall. There is much more space there and we will try to explain everything."

Seeing that it seemed like quite a few of the Squad members had piled up on each other to catch a glimpse of what was happening in the room, that seemed like a good idea. We went into the great hall together with the two elves and there they explained. 

It had all begun in fall. While the first preparations for Christmas had gone very smooth and everything seemed fine, something was not right. And apparently the elves hadn't noticed at first, and neither had Santa. But by November it was very clear that the reindeer were not as happy and cheerful about Christmas as they had been all the years before. 

This was not something that was new, they had oftentimes voiced exhaustion and the desire to retire after 600 years of towing Santa's sleigh every single year. But so far, they had always still been ready to do it. Not this year. This year, they staged a walkout at the beginning of December and nothing anyone said could convince them to come back. 

Naturally, the Workshop was in a state of panic. What to do? Reindeer were hard to come by nowadays, with so few left. And this was a big responsibility, one that it was hard to find the right candidates for. At first, only a small search party was sent out to find suitable reindeer, with everyone else still preparing as normal for Christmas, but over the days, more and more elves joined the search, as it grew more and more desperate. 

Always reassuring each other that they still had time but that it was getting urgent, in the end, all but the three elves who were still left to keep up the communication between the search parties and the Workshop had gone out, including Santa herself.

The search had not gone well and the parties had evidently lost track of time so much that for the first time in 600 years, they had forgotten Christmas. And they had not found even a single reindeer that wanted to take the job. 

Meanwhile, the remaining elves had also lost track of time and not wanting to inform anyone of their failure to recruit new reindeer, had stopped communicating with anyone outside of the Workshop. They thought it would be just for a few days and that long before Christmas they would take communications back up.

But that had not happened. And since there was only so few of them left and they started staying in the communication room all the time, the Workshop had gone dark by itself from lack of use. 

After the elves were finished telling the story, everyone was quiet for a few moments. Looking around at the Squad, I could see that none of them knew any solution for this dilemma. The silence was only interrupted by elves now streaming back into the Workshop, all of them devastated, all of them worried and lamenting the loss of Christmas. 

The one little speck of positivity in this dire situation was that at least the lights were coming back on now, even though that seemed to be of little importance anymore.

When Santa herself came back, everyone seemed to think she had a solution, but she just shook her head and collapsed in a chair. There was a subdued quality hanging around the cavern. Nobody knew what to do.

I tried to talk to Santa, to come up with something. I felt like having led the Squad here, I should find a solution to this. But I couldn't think of anything. The relieve I had felt when I had found out that nobody had attacked the Workshop and nobody was injured had long since evaporated. 

Christmas had passed and there didn't seem to be any hope for a late delivery. All around me, I could feel the desperation. Was this truly the end of Christmas? 

I didn't want to believe it. So I did what I always did best, I called for a recounting of the problem, to list what we had and what we needed. Santa looked at me with exasperation in her face. 

"Well, we have presents. That much we at least made sure of. But we need a way to deliver them. The sleigh cannot fly on its own and no reindeer wants to do the job. And without them…"

She trailed off. 

Everyone was silent again. I tried to think. We had the sleigh, the presents, Santa, everything but reindeer. There had to be a solution. 

Suddenly, I felt a nudge in my side. It was Skewy. She seemed to have an idea but seemed unsure of how to talk about it. I looked at her encouragingly. 

"Does it have to be reindeer?"

Santa looked up in surprise. After a short moment, she shook her head. 

"No. No, I guess not. I mean, I'm not exactly what traditionally gets talked about as Santa Claus either, far too little color in my cheeks, or well, the wrong one according to what we see in children's books anyways," she attempted a smile at that little joke, but it didn't turn out quite convincing, "but we don't have anyone else who would be able to do it either. I mean, with fairy dust, anyone can fly, but the elves are not strong enough to pull the sleigh and…" she trailed off again and then quite suddenly jumped up, clearly realizing what had already occurred to Skewy and now me, "unless…"

And again she trailed off. But she didn't have to continue. Looking around me at the eager faces of the Squad, I knew that we had all come to the same conclusion. I turned around and addressed them.

"What do you say about pulling a sleigh today? It might not be Christmas and we might not be reindeer, but I daresay we will make a lot of children very happy." 

And that was how the whole world talked for generations afterwards about the Christmas that was late but still perfect. The Christmas that started the trend of leaving out raw fish instead of carrots if a family wanted to give a treat to those pulling Santa's sleigh. 

The Christmas that was the first on which Rudolph's shiny small nose had been replaced by the giant red nosebag of a hooded seal called Sprinkles.

I remember. I was there. And from then on, every single Christmas Eve, a booming voice could be heard in the skies:

"Now Patchy! Now Skewy! Now Sparky and Short Snout! On Balancer! On Eyesie! On Sprinkles lead the way!"

**Author's Note:**

> The seal species used in this fic are as follows (I highly recommend looking them up as all of them are adorably cute):
> 
> Eyesie – Saimaa ringed seal  
> Sparky – harp seal  
> Balancer – harbor seal  
> Patchy – grey seal  
> Skewy – ringed seal  
> Short Snout – Saimaa ringed seal  
> Sprinkles – hooded seal


End file.
